Tag: woodworking

Greetings on Labor Day. A day set aside to celebrate the contributions of the Labor Movement and laborers that made America great. Now used primarily to mark the end of summer and an excuse to have Labor Day sales. So the laborers at the stores have to work on Labor Day. 

This is yet another long overdue blog post. Two things are required for good writing. Inspiration and time. I haven’t been able to muster both of them up at the same time for weeks. Okay, pushing a couple months. 

Well what’s been going on in Ed and Lise’s world since my last post? What’s been keeping me so busy that I can’t find time to write? I’m retired aren’t I? Isn’t that the passport to idle leisurely days? Well, plenty has been happening. We have been crazy busy and not the “sitting by the poolside with a drink” kind of busy. 

So many little things suck your time away. Like, yesterday afternoon I got the most recent COVID booster shot. Only took a few minutes and was painless. Then I spent this morning in bed because I couldn’t drag myself out. Coincidence? I don’t think so. 

I help with a local woodworkers non-profit group. Getting involved with nonprofits means entering the vortex. It always starts with just a small pull and the next thing you know you’re totally sucked in and spinning around. Need somebody to put the newsletter together? Sure,  I can do that. Next thing you know you’re on the steering committee and you’re the communications director. How the hell did that happen? 

If you really want to see your time disappear, try learning some new skills. In my case it’s two skills; woodturning and the Gaelic language. Neither of which have any overlap and both of which take a lot of unexciting practice. Not much to write about with either one. I take pieces of wood and turn them into smaller pieces of wood and large piles of wood shavings. Or, I take the Gaelic language and turn it into something unintelligible to a native Gaelic speaker. 

A cherry bowl surrounded by what was once attached to it.

A bowl and some candle holders looking for forever homes. I have successfully found homes for about ten bowls now. And not all in Lise’s office. 

Measure twice, cut once. There’s a reason for that old adage. This is why we practice. 

Lise’s work has been keeping her busy. The upside is that it has required short trips to Turkey Run State Park, Patoka Reservoir, Dunes State Park, Falls of the Ohio State Park, and Potato Creek State Park. I tag along to help with the driving and slip in some photography when possible. Turkey Run may be my favorite Indiana State Park. Driving I-70 across Indiana gives one the impression that Indiana is flat and boring. True to some extent, especially the I-70 corridor. Interstates are easiest built on flat and level terrain like much of Indiana. But Indiana has some tiny little easy to miss nuggets like Turkey Run. 

The canyon at Turkey Run State Park.

Lake Michigan shoreline at Dunes State Park.

The Falls of the Ohio were once an impediment to travel on the Ohio River. The works that divert water from the Falls of the Ohio into a canal around the Falls, allowing all season transportation on the river.

Looking down the Falls of the Ohio which were really a series of rapids. Now completely controlled and managed.

Fossils, and a golf ball, in the fossil beds at Falls of the Ohio

And then, there’s the ongoing groundhog war. It’s not going well on my part. I just ordered the second bottle of coyote urine. More of that in my next post. 

Individually any one of these or any other niggly little time sinks are no big deal. The issue is taken collectively, you watch the days fly by without anything interesting to write about. It isn’t just the niggly little time sinks keeping me from writing too. A couple larger ones have done their part to kill my writing time. 

For starters, we hosted my 13 year old niece for a week. She took woodworking in school and enjoyed it. I invited her out here to work in my shop and she was game. She designed a wall-mounted guitar holder and we built it. It was truly a tag team effort. She did most of the design. I only stepped in with some practical advice. I showed her how to use the tools and she did most of the measuring and cutting. We both enjoyed the time. However, entertaining a 13 year old with power tools doesn’t leave much time for creative writing. 

My niece using my table saw. I would also like to point out that at her age both I and her father had hair that color. Back when we actually had hair. Now, being a red-head is a good thing. It’s called being a “ginger”. When I had hair that color you were called “bricktop” or “carrot top”. Times and fashion change.

The finished project.

What you find around your shop in the weeks after your 13 year old niece leaves.

I got some long distance travel time in too. I took my niece back home to PA and then headed to Delaware for a few days. Spent some time working around our trailer, got in some birding and dragonfly photography, and soaked up the coastal culture. I can go coastal so easily. Given the U.S. interstate road network, and refrigerated trucks, one can get fresh oysters and clams within days of the little filter feeders coming out of the water. That’s still not as good as getting them a few hours after they come out of the water. I just can’t write when I’m going coastal. Too busy sucking up the experience.

Crabs and fried oysters at the Surfing Crab in Lewes, DE. Give me oysters and beer, for dinner any day of the year….. Jimmy Buffet

Coastal Delaware is a great place for birding. There’s ocean, beaches, miles of coastal marshes, freshwater systems, and forests, all in close proximity. I added a few more bird species to my year list. Including a couple species that apparently haven’t looked at their range maps in the field guides. Black-bellied whistling ducks that have come to the same subdivision stormwater retention pond for at least five years now. Apparently they are unaware that they are supposed to be on the Gulf Coast. And a couple sandhill cranes that have nested in Delaware, apparently unaware that they belong on the central flyway. 

Black-bellied whistling ducks in a subdivision water retention pond. 

Sandhill cranes at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. 

In the “animals can adapt” category we osprey nesting on a highway sign by the Lewes – Cape May ferry terminal.

And roosting in sailboat rigging along the Lewes – Rehobeth canal in Lewes.

Looking down the canal that goes right through Lewes. Connects Rehobeth Bay to the Delaware Bay.

Turkle Pond in Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Good for birding and dragonflies.

We have managed a little bird chasing around here. We got word that some species unusual for this area were at Pine Creek Game Bird Management Area, about a half hour from here. Having  a rare free morning we hopped in the car. We saw several new species for the year, the highlight of which was a buff-breasted sandpiper. Not a bird we see every year. Right now our yearly bird species list stands at 296 for me and 295 for Lise. Unless something drastic happens with a little effort we should hit 300 species for the year. 

I haven’t done much dragonfly photography this season. A bit while on trips with Lise and in Delaware, and a bit locally. Only one new species for me, mostly just a few old friends. 

Blue-fronted dancer damselfly.

Widow skimmer.

Eastern pondhawk.

Slaty skimmer

Not sure about this one just yet.

Twelve-spotted skimmer.

Common whitetail.

Halloween pennants

Band-winged meadowhawk. A new one for me, considered uncommon in Indiana.

So, I hope all the laborers, except those working retail, get to enjoy the holiday fruits that their labor has given us. For those of you working retail – thanks. You gotta sell out that summer themed junk to make room for the Halloween and Thanksgiving themed junk. That’s what keeps our consumer driven economy going and you’re on the front lines. And remember, Christmas shopping season is just around the corner.